Fantasy Football Week 5 Waiver Wire: Deeper League Pickups (QB, RB, WR, TE)

Dan's top fantasy football Week 5 waiver wire pickups, sleepers, stashes for deeper leagues for 2025. His waiver targets include Jaxson Dart, Woody Marks, Malik Washington, and others.

It is hard to believe that four weeks of the NFL season have already come and gone. Whether your team got off to a hot start or struggled out of the gate, the season is far from over. No matter your record, there are winning moves to be made on the waiver wire.

That is especially true, given that bye weeks start in Week 5. Fantasy managers who roster players from Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, or Pittsburgh may need to find solutions this week to supplement their lineup.

This article will focus on fantasy football players who are at or below a 40% roster rate on Yahoo! -- and can be considered deeper league waiver wire options. We'll cover a few players from the QB, RB, WR, and TE positions. Let's get to it!

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
• Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
• Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
• FLEX fantasy football rankings
• Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
• Kicker (K) fantasy football rankings
• Dynasty fantasy football rankings

Quarterback Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

All QBs are rostered in 40% of leagues or less

Jaxson Dart, New York Giants – 23% rostered

It's easy to be encouraged by Jaxson Dart’s first NFL start. The rookie quarterback faced off against a Chargers defense that had the second-lowest expected points added (-27.8) and the lowest success rate (32.7%) against quarterbacks.

It wasn’t the most explosive day through the air for the rookie (13 of 20 passing for 111 yards and a touchdown), but Dart was able to get there in fantasy thanks to 10 carries for 54 yards and a touchdown. His 19.8 fantasy points allowed him to finish as the QB9 on Sunday.

The loss of Malik Nabers in the passing attack due to a knee injury is significant, but Dart will be fantasy relevant if he continues to get opportunities on designed rushes.

Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers- 18% rostered

Bryce Young has struggled to replicate his strong finish to the 2024 season. Young has just one game with more than 12.0 fantasy points, a 22.3-point affair in Week 2. That game is the only time this season Young has thrown for more than 160 yards and multiple touchdowns.

The third-year quarterback has not been helped by injuries to his wide receiver group (Jalen Coker, Xavier Legette, and Ja’Tavion Sanders) or his offensive line, but there was still hope that things would look better in 2025.

With bye weeks on the horizon, it is important to find quarterbacks with good matchups for streaming purposes. Carolina’s next two games come against very exploitable secondaries (Miami and Dallas), giving Young a chance to provide streaming value despite his overall struggles.

Running Back Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

All RBs are rostered in 40% of leagues or less

Woody Marks, Houston Texans- 31% rostered

Woody Marks’s role in Houston’s offense gradually increased week over week to start the season. In Week 4, he took the lead in Houston’s backfield with a 56.3% snap share.

The result was an excellent fantasy performance. Marks handled 17 carries for 69 yards and a touchdown while adding four receptions (on five targets) for 50 yards and a touchdown. Marks finished as the RB6 in PPR scoring after Sunday’s games with 27.9 points.

Marks vastly outproduced Nick Chubb (13 carries for 47 yards and two receptions for 15 yards), which should help him continue to see his workload grow. Texans’ head coach DeMeco Ryans also said on Monday that Joe Mixon is not close to returning, meaning Marks and Chubb will continue to dominate this backfield.

Houston will continue to split their backfield between Marks and Chubb while both players are healthy, but right now, Marks is the hot hand and will continue to earn consistent touches. That, combined with his work as a pass-catching back, makes him a must-add if he’s on your waiver wire.

Kendre Miller, New Orleans Saints- 5% rostered

The first two seasons of Kendre Miller’s career were marred by injuries that limited his ability to contribute. He’s been healthy in 2025 and is gradually earning more trust in new head coach Kellen Moore’s offense.

Miller had a season-high 31.3% snap share in Week 4, handling 11 carries for 65 yards and a touchdown. He had a 36% success rate as a rusher, with 22% of his yardage coming after contact. Miller has looked like the running back we expected coming out of TCU, consistently breaking tackles and creating yardage after contact.

Every Kendre Miller touch - Week 4 https://t.co/3mfzbWUG5P pic.twitter.com/WIR1hvCvAi

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) September 29, 2025

The backup running back is still running well behind Alvin Kamara in the backfield, but he’s handled at least five carries in all four of the Saints’ games this season. That has helped him account for a 24% share of the Saints’ carries.

Miller is only an injury away from being fantasy relevant and is worth stashing on the bench as we enter bye weeks.

Wide Receiver Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

All WRs are rostered in 40% of leagues or less

Elic Ayomanor, Tennessee Titans- 31% rostered

Elic Ayomanor continues to be the most consistent piece of the Titans’ mess of a passing offense. Ayomanor leads the Titans in targets (25), receiving yards (151), and receiving touchdowns (2) and is second in receptions (12) through four games.

The rookie has at least five targets and a 72% snap share in every game this season. Most importantly, Cam Ward trusts him and looks to him down the field when his blocking breaks down.

The Titans' offense is abysmal, but Ayomanor continues to see a steady workload. That hasn’t amounted to much in fantasy to start the season (especially in the weeks without a touchdown), but it can provide boom weeks during the byes.

Malik Washington, Miami Dolphins – 3%

Malik Washington has had a minor role in Miami’s offense to start the 2025 season, working as both a receiver and rusher. However, that role is set to expand with Tyreek Hill set to miss a significant amount of time due to a gruesome lower-body injury suffered on Monday night.

Washington is a technician who can get open with savvy route running. Now he will be counted on to serve as a complement to Jaylen Waddle in the passing attack. We know that Miami’s defense is not very good (unless they’re playing the Jets), which should create plenty of shootout situations this season.

Tight End Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

All TEs are rostered in 40% of leagues or less

Brenton Strange, Jacksonville Jaguars- 28% rostered

Brenton Strange continues to be the steadiest part of Jacksonville’s passing offense despite being surrounded by first-round talent. Strange was tied for first in targets (7) and led the Jaguars in receptions (6) with 45 yards against the 49ers.

Brenton Strange went 4/4 for 59 yards. Catching and Blocking, he was everywhere for the Jaguars yesterday.
Of course his last play where he laid out Moehrig. pic.twitter.com/Uzy3OiMuHy

— Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) September 8, 2025

The veteran tight end has had at least five targets in his last three games. He’s also gone over the 40-yard mark in three of four games this season. Strange has back-to-back weeks with double-digit fantasy points scored, which has allowed him to finish as a low-end TE1 consecutively. At this point, it is a safe place to put him in your rankings.

Theo Johnson, New York Giants- 5% rostered

Theo Johnson’s first game with a rookie quarterback was his best fantasy performance of the year. Johnson caught three of five targets for 17 yards and a touchdown, scoring 10.7 fantasy points in a win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

It was the second time this season that Johnson drew at least five targets and his first time finding the end zone. Not only will Johnson benefit from a rookie quarterback (Jaxson Dart), but the Giants' target share just opened massively with Malik Nabers potentially suffering a season-ending injury.

Dart has shown that he is willing to get the ball to whatever player is open instead of just pushing the ball downfield like Russell Wilson. That means that Johnson has a chance to carve out a bigger role in the passing attack, looking for playmakers. There is a chance he finishes second on the team in targets now that Nabers is out.

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